Accidents in the workplace

There seem to have been a few accidents in the workplace lately but few of the people who have had them seem to be any the worse for wear. I guess it must be the healthy environment created by that bright new future that’s causing us all to have to go to SpecSavers.

The latest series of workplace accidents have happened at, ACC, which probably means they weren’t accidents at all; they were in fact pre-existing conditions. Actually the more I think about that, the more it makes sense.

ACC’s accidents began to emerge with the wholesale release of private and confidential information about ordinary New Zealanders to a lot of unsuspecting recipients including rather unfortunately for the Corporation, a feisty individual called Bronwyn Pullar.

As we all now know, Bronwyn is not the sort of woman to simply roll over and ask the corporation to roger her all over again. Furthermore their choice of Bronwyn as the recipient for these files was also stupid on the grounds she was a long term ‘client’ with a long term grievance against them. People in this position have nothing to lose and can make a Government department’s life very difficult. Bronwyn taped the whole sorry saga and left the fibbers with no wriggle-room.

But the micro-brains that have been running ACC have been left to their own devices and allowed to develop their own culture of blame against their clients, which is an interesting twist for a ‘no fault insurance scheme’.

After battling with them for almost 10 years, Bronwyn, who appears to have a perfectly reasonable claim, tooled herself up with a powerful ally in the form of Michelle Boag and met with the corporation to try and get things sorted out.

Of course as we know, they decided to fabricate the details of the meeting, leak personal information about Bronwyn to the Press, and accused her of blackmail.

Following this outrageous attack Bronwyn decided to finally allow the media, with whom she had been in contact for the last 10 years, to go public with her side of the story. The revelations that came from that interview she gave to TV3 were game-changers.

Since the programme aired only three days ago, the Chairman of ACC, John Poorjudgeofcharacter has ‘stepped aside’. He has not been fired and ACC Minister Little Bo-Tox won’t say he was asked or pushed, although her body language on TV One News told a very different story. The official blurb is that this guy is only leaving because his new job as the head (case) at ANZ National Bank would have him far too busy to bother with the malingerers at ACC (not that he ever did anyway).

So once again an incompetent person who couldn’t run a major Government Corporation efficiently and who has been caught out in more than one public lie and defamed a client doesn’t get sacked; instead he is able to move smoothly into another overpaid sinecure and nobody so much as even tells him off. Good luck to any customers at ANZ National Bank. If I knew somebody like him was moving into the top spot at my bank I’d be worried. ANZ National Bank should be too, because the man fucked up his last post and although I know banking and dishonesty aren’t mutually exclusive of one another, to have such an example out front is not a good look.

However Poorjudgeofcharacter is not the only ACC head we should soon be seeing rolling into the little basket; the mysterious Dr Burgess who is able to diagnose from halfway across town without even seeing the patient needs to bite the bullet as well. His association with ACC needs to be cut and his own ethics body might like to investigate the probity of arriving at diagnoses without consultation. He might be better off practicing in Haiti if that is the way he works.

Burgess’ unauthorised contact with the allegedly independent specialist raises ethical issues as well, and possibly privacy ones too. But worst of all is his unauthorised accessing of Bronwyn Pullar’s files after he was told he was to have nothing further to do with her files. Burgess went on to access the files on at least seven further occasions after being forbidden to do so. Staff who have done this at IRD and WINZ have been sacked. He should be too and police should be called in to determine if criminal charges are appropriate. I used to like A Clockwork Orange, but since the main characters began living out their fantasies at ACC I’ve gone right off it.

As I write this I learn that Ralph Stewart has also been shown the door by an increasingly panic-stricken Little Bo-Tox who sees her Ministerial posts under threat.

Stewart was the other wanker who told us all he had not heard Bronwyn’s tape when it was well-known her legal representatives had played it to him.

She who has been called the Crusher is obviously feeling the crush herself as she has apparently also informed two other ACC directors; Rob Campbell and John McLiskie they can forget about being re-appointed either. Of course the cynic in me (where would that be then?) says Bo-To is more annoyed these bumbling fools allowed this to get into the public arena and get some of their doo-doos all over her rather than for the nasty shit they threw at Bronwyn Pullar.

The cull-out can’t have finished yet, though because there are at least two other ACC knob-heads who should also go. Managers Philip Murch and Hans Verberne are the pair who concocted the allegation they had been blackmailed by Ms Pullar and called the cops in to investigate. Given they knew their allegations were baseless these two idiots should be charged with making a false complaint to police and then sacked as well.

So accidents or otherwise? Well I can’t help finding it extremely ironic that a corporation that spends half its time trying to deny accident victims support by labelling their accident induced injuries as ‘pre-existing conditions’ should be so accident prone themselves. A much better case can be made for their recent ‘accidents’ to be viewed as pre-existing conditions.

Your claims are well and truly denied ACC – time to remember what you were set up for.

Chumps’ tea party

Long before this election began I expressed the view that (sadly) there was probably only one way Jianqi could lose this election; and that would be if a really bad scandal erupted at a critical stage of the game.

The teapot tape might just be that, er smoking teapot. It is amazing to think a cup of cha could have such a potentially explosive charge. In fact, given the way Jianqi and Banksia have reacted I am more interested in what might have been in that teapot than what is on the tape. After all the tape is perfectly innocent, isn’t it? I mean it must be because His Right Honourable Prime Ministership said so. (Cue Tui sign)

There are many questions arising from this affair and not all of them will be answered by us hearing the tape. One that immediately springs to mind is, what is the offence Jianqi alleges has occurred here? It is clear there is nothing in the Privacy Act that could actually relate to this and in any case, that Act is administered by the Privacy Commissioner, not the Police Commissioner. So what piece of legislation is our toady little Prime Munter using for this?

My guess is the wanker is trying to drag something out from the National Disgrace’s considerable war chest of hastily passed legislation dealing with public order or National (geddit) security. Don’t forget an awful lot of flustering went on following 9/11 when ‘anti-terrorism’ legislation was shoved through at breakneck pace and further ‘amendments’ were whipped through following the Christchurch earthquake under the guise of ‘public order’ so it could be something from here.

I also thought it was interesting, nay damned troubling that police saw fit to deliver a warning to people not to publish. I don’t believe they are in a position to do this because I don’t believe there is a legal justification for it. But what troubles me more is why are they leaping to the defence of the PM and making an unnecessary and some would say, reckless and stupid statement about the legal position. Clearly little Jianqi has pulled rank and asked (read demanded) his big bully-boy mates come and support him and let everyone else know they’ll get the bash if they step out of line.   

But whatever he is trying to do, it seems an awful lot of trouble to go to for a ‘principle’. In any case I’d have thought principles and politicians did not belong on the same page never mind the same sentence. As I told Granny Herald this week, in an effort to encourage them to publish the bloody thing; why hold back on ethical grounds? That’s hardly a quality one could associate with Jianqi or Banksia – especially if, as I suspect they were running down old Duffer Dong and planning a coup de space. (That’s where one space cadet replaces another).

Clearly summat is afoot and someone is a liar. I sincerely hope we get to find out whom – BEFORE November 26!

As for the cameraman who allegedly accidentally left his recorder on, I have to say it is entirely plausible. I say this because I have done exactly the same thing on a number of occasions. What happens sometimes is you are interviewing somebody and you have to interrupt to take a picture of someone else because they are about to leave and it is very easy in the heat of the moment to leave the thing on. Several times I have been and done an interview and left and when I got back to the office found that the last 20 minutes of my tape are the sounds of me cursing at other motorists on my way home. It is much easier to do than most people would realise, especially when you are being rushed along by deadlines.

But to get back to my original point; this just might be the turning point in this election. At this late stage I would doubt it could completely sink the Nats, but it could certainly cut into their vote enough to make things really interesting. It might just expose the ACTors for the bit part players and pantomime dames they really are and sink them without a trace.

I don’t think little prissy Jianqi has a leg to stand on as far as obtaining any sort of prosecution over this, but I have urged TV3 and Granny Herald, and I urge all of you to urge them, to publish without delay, because if they don’t Banksia and Jianqi could seek injunctions to tie their hands. Then they could well face prosecution if they publish.

So carpe diem, Herald and TV3 and anyone else who knows what’s on that tape. It might be nothing, but then I might be two metres tall and the next All Black captain! We certainly can’t believe anything our incumbent Prime Munter says because he continually lies like a bloody flatfish. Oops sorry it’s not telling lies is it? We’re in a dynamic environment. Where is that dynamite when I need it?

Time to sit up and pay attention

I believed for many years that life is about learning stuff. Good stuff and bad stuff. You see I believe our task is to strive for betterment. I’m not talking about money or position here; I mean making an effort to improve ourselves and our surroundings for the benefit of us all. That’s why we need to be alert to what is happening in the world, give some thought to what might be causing it, and if it is detrimental, try to do something about it.

Sadly, as a race we don’t seem to be too good at learning lessons. Over the last few months the universe has given us a few mighty whacks up the side of the head and our future depends on whether we learn from these events or not.

In the last 12 to 18 months there have been a series of major disasters around the world. This in itself is nothing terribly unusual, apart from the fact the scale of several of these incidents has been far greater than normal. From the devastation of the floods that spread across several states of Australia, turning what had been desert into lakes, to the current catastrophe in Japan, the world has had a bashing.

Most of these disasters would have happened anyway as they were usually driven by natural phenomena, but there are some important lessons to be learned from many and it is crucial we ‘get it’ if we are to avoid similar catastrophic results when these natural phenomena return with similar force, as they ultimately will.

So what are the lessons? They are all pretty simple really and what is frustrating is what needs to be learned is actually stuff that has been known all along and which has been ignored in the interests of expediency, complacency, and most of all, money.

There were ten major mining disasters around the world in 2010 resulting in over 400 deaths. Of those ten disasters, only the Chilean Copper-Gold Mine had a non fatal outcome and in at least five cases, there are serious questions about health and safety practices. But irrespective of this, there has been a large body of people trying to put an end to these sorts of operations because they not only make a serious negative impact upon the environment; they are also inherently dangerous for those working in them.

Do we have to kill another 400 this year before somebody ‘gets it’ and re-evaluates the whole practice of underground mining, especially when it is for yesterday’s fuel.

But it is not only the mining disasters we need to learn from. We have also had a clutch of serious earthquakes that contain within them some important lessons we should have already learned.

In my own country the city of Christchurch has suffered two massive quakes in the last six months. The first one on September 4, 2010 destroyed a lot of property but no lives, but the second, on February 22, 2011 was a different matter altogether. The final toll is not in yet, but it is likely to be in excess of 200. The town was already severely weakened after the September 4 event in which widespread liquefaction had occurred and thus the whole city was floating on a blancmange when the latest shake came.

But what is so sad about the Christchurch events is that warnings had been given for both of these events and they were ignored by those who could have done something. An Inside New Zealand documentary screened on TV3 in 1996 warned of the sort of soil Christchurch was sitting on and what the effects of this would be in a major earthquake. Furthermore many buildings had been identified as not being sturdy enough to withstand a large earthquake. Nobody in power took any notice.

Then on February 14, 2011 weather forecaster Ken Ring predicted a very big quake would occur in Christchurch between February 17 and 21. He was only one day out, but was ignored and then ridiculed by interviewer John Campbell who ignored the fact this guy gets the weather correct far more often than the Met Office. What’s worse I doubt anybody was listening when Ring also warned about March 21 and April 17 shakes yet to come. He might be wrong and I hope he is, but given what he has already been right about, it might be wise to take some notice.

The TV3 doco also reminded us of Wellington’s many buildings not up to earthquake standard. However, so far, the Wellington City Council is still sitting in that river in Egypt and claiming it is too costly to upgrade all the buildings properly. Current regulations only require strengthening these buildings to one quarter of the required strength, which quite frankly would be a waste of money, because it would make no significant difference in a large quake. Apparently mass fatalities are a much better option.

But what has happened in Christchurch and what is likely to happen in Wellington pale into invisibility compared with the situation in Japan. Now I really am on a hobby horse.

How could a country that suffered the world’s first known major nuclear event (Hiroshima) even begin to consider building nuclear power stations?

For Chrissakes they knew what the effects of radiation on people were better than anyone else in the world. Did the geniuses who decided to build nuclear power plants there think an accident couldn’t happen?

If they did then they must be the most stupid people to have ever breathed in and out. The bloody country is a bunch of rather small islands (the whole place is only 50 percent larger than New Zealand) laid out along a massive fault region known as the Pacific Ring of Fire containing 10 percent of the world’s active volcanoes.

When you think about that it makes Japan’s nuclear supporters as bright as that bloke that blew half his face off when he was siphoning petrol and lit his lighter to get a better view of his work. But the trouble is this is not a matter of Japan blowing its own face off.  If it was simply a matter of that, we could (perhaps rather uncharitably) say that if they are really that stupid, then it serves them right.

However it is not just their face they stand to blow to pieces; it is the possibility they will do the same to the rest of us, or at the very least leave us with some pretty nasty and untreatable scars. Thank god some men with actual gonads have warmed the treasury benches in New Zealand every now and again. Without the vision and tenacity of people such as David Lange (for all his other faults) we could well have had one of these ridiculously dangerous contraptions built in, for example, Christchurch and we might be the ones now threatening the entire planet thanks to our brainless pursuit of the almighty dollar.

Above all others, this is the lesson we need to learn and to teach or even beat into the skulls of everyone on the planet. Nuclear power is dangerous – far too dangerous for us to be messing with. We still haven’t come up with a safe way to dispose of the spent fuel rods and despite all the ‘safety precautions’ nobody can guarantee there will be no accidents, even if everyone follows procedures, which many don’t.

Don’t be fooled by these bastards. Always remember when businessmen and politicians start quoting the percentages on the likelihood of an accident they are simply playing the numbers game. They don’t give a toss about people; for them it is all about the bottom line, or as it should be called, the low line. It’s time to put the heat on councils and governments over mining and unsafe buildings and it is definitely time to stop any more nuclear power stations being built – anywhere!